WOODBRIDGE troops today received their medals to mark a busy six months in Afghanistan's notorious Helmand province. Members of 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault) took part in a medals parade at Rock Barracks in which Maj Gen Keith Cima, governor of the Tower of London, presented the soldiers with their Operational Service Medals and opened the new Garden of Reflection.

Richard Cornwell

WOODBRIDGE troops today received their medals to mark a busy six months in Afghanistan's notorious Helmand province.

Members of 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault) took part in a medals parade at Rock Barracks in which Maj Gen Keith Cima, governor of the Tower of London, presented the soldiers with their Operational Service Medals and opened the new Garden of Reflection.

Lieutenant Colonel Dave Wilson MBE led the 360 parading troops in front of Maj Gen Cima and an audience of more than 600 serving and retired soldiers, VIP guests, friends and families.

The centrepiece of the Garden of Remembrance is a bust of the late Lt Col John Rock, a former Royal Engineer who, in June 1940 at Winston Churchill's request, founded the first British Parachute Corps.

A Sapper from the outset, not only was he the first parachute soldier but also the first glider soldier and the bust in the memorial garden is a symbol of the regiment's proud airborne traditions and of the sacrifices that have been made by soldiers throughout the regiment's history.

Troops from 23 Engineer Regiment (Air Assault) are 16 Air Assault Brigade's engineering and infrastructure specialists and were key in preparing and clearing the route for delivery of the Kajaki Dam Turbine in Helmand province as well as managing all the reconstruction and development projects in the southern Afghan province.